This is no time for Reid to shuffle staff

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's looking like the Kansas City Chiefs will bring back their coaching staff from 2013 largely intact for next season. The Chiefs lost assistant special teams coach Kevin O'Dea to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he will be the special teams coordinator.

There could be another defection or two but Andy Reid won't be making any changes on his own. Though it's tempting to look at how the season ended for the defense and want to make some changes involving coordinator Bob Sutton or other assistants, the Chiefs need to stay the course there.

They're trying to build something for the long term here and while the way the Chiefs finished the season on defense was disappointing, they can benefit from continuity on the coaching staff. This was just Season 1 of the Reid era and the expectation is that things will get better next season and beyond.

If it doesn't, that's a better time for Reid to shuffle the staff. But this is a time for cooler heads to prevail and it's a good thing Reid isn't acting emotionally.

"The one advantage I have is I'm with these guys all day every day," Reid said this week on Kansas City radio station 810 WHB this week. "I get to evaluate them every day and watch them work every day.

"Do we need to improve? Absolutely. We've got to get better, starting with me. We're not shooting for just making the playoffs. We're trying to be the best."